Philippine Export of Coconut Products Down in April

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority revealed export of coconut products by the Philippine dropped 30.3% in April to 194,617 MT in copra terms from 279,265 MT in the same month a year ago.  The year-on-year decline was the second following the previous month.  However, gross export receipts significantly increased by 27.2% to USD324.027 million from USD254.821 million driven by high prices.

All major exports posted double-digit year-on-year losses. Coconut oil slumped 31.2% to 110,198 MT from 160,214 MT, by-product copra meal dropped 46.9% to 27,586 MT from 51,975 MT; desiccated coconut fell 19.3% to 11,012 MT from 13,644 MT; oleochemicals contracted 30.8% to 2,673 MT as copra from 3,864 MT.

Other products’ performance showed as follows, in MT:  virgin coconut oil nil (612 MT last year), coco water 11,206 (-1.8% from 11,410), fresh coconuts 22 (+29.5% from 17); Others 16,934 (-12.2% from 19,287).

January-April exports tallied 866,054 MT in copra terms, a mild decline by 4.8% from 909,381 MT at the same time last year.  Revenue, however, shot up 65.6% to USD1.297 billion from USD783.347 million.  Breakdown by volume follows, MT: virgin coconut oil 13 (2,443 last year), coco water 50,293 (13,387), fresh coconuts 72 (24), Others 75,869 (67,041).